DJI and other drone companies get a partial reprieve in the US but the ban
on new models still stands

Date:
Mon, 12 Jan 2026 14:00:00 +0000

Description:
The Department of Commerce has decided not to make the US's worrying "DJI
ban" even worse.

FULL STORY

As we reported recently , the so-called "DJI ban" recently implemented in the US is actually a ban on all new foreign-made drones, which seems likely to
make buying drones harder and more expensive in the country.

But here's something to cheer up US-based drone users hunting for nuggets of good news amidst the doom and gloom: the Department of Commerce has decided
not to make things even worse by restricting the import of all Chinese-made drones into the country.

This proposed ban (which is separate to the FCC ban introduced on December 23 2025) would have restricted fresh stock of previously approved drone models like the DJI Mavic 3 Pro , HoverAir X1 and Antigravity A1 from being imported into the US for sale.

The future remains murky

According to Reuters , this move may come as a result of a partial thaw in relations between the US and China ahead of a meeting between the countries' respective presidents Donald Trump and Xi Jinping in April 2026.

While this means it won't get immediately worse for anyone trying to buy a Chinese-made drone in the US, the future is much murkier. The FCC's separate ban covers any foreign-made drones that have yet to receive FCC approval,
which means future DJI, Autel, Antigravity and Zero Zero Robotics (the owner
of HoverAir) models are unlikely to be available in the States barring intervention from the US government.

The FCC ban does include a provision for specific future models to be
approved and allowed in for sale, but this doesn't seem likely to happen in
the current climate, and the uncertainty surrounding the rules (not to
mention the tariff situation) may discourage companies like DJI from participating in the US market at all.

With no US-based drone manufacturers currently offering genuine competition
to DJI, the outlook for consumers isn't particularly rosy, but they'll be
able to continue buying previously approved Chinese-made models for now, at least.

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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/cameras/drones/dji-and-other-drone-companies-get-a-p artial-reprieve-in-the-us-but-the-ban-on-new-models-still-stands

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